1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to orthopaedic prostheses and, specifically, to femoral components in a knee prosthesis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Orthopaedic prostheses are commonly utilized to repair and/or replace damaged bone and tissue in the human body. For a damaged knee, a knee prosthesis may be implanted using a tibial base plate, a tibial bearing component, and a distal femoral component. The tibial base plate is affixed to a proximal end of the patient's tibia, which is typically resected to accept the base plate. The femoral component is implanted on a distal end of the patient's femur, which is also typically resected to accept the femoral component. The tibial bearing component is placed between the tibial base plate and femoral component, and may be fixedly or slidably coupled to the tibial base plate.
The femoral component provides articular surfaces which interact with the adjacent tibial. bearing component and a natural or prosthetic patella during extension and flexion of the knee. The features and geometry of the articular surfaces of the femoral component influence the articular characteristics of the knee, such as by cooperating with the tibial bearing component to define flexion range, internal/external rotation, femoral rollback and patellar tracking, for example. The nonarticular, bone contacting surfaces of the femoral component define the shape and geometry of the bone resection on the distal femur, and therefore influence the amount of bone resected from the femur.
Further, the overall shape and geometry of the femoral component, particularly around its outer periphery, influences the interaction between the knee prosthesis and adjacent soft tissues remaining in place after prosthesis implantation.
Accordingly, substantial design efforts have fbcused on providing knee prosthesis components which preserve flexion range, promote desirable kinematic motion profiles, protect natural soft tissues, and are compatible with the widest possible range of prospective knee replacement patients.